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"Chuck: Do you think I have parents? Real parents?
Thomas: Of course you do, shank. You need me to explain the birds and bees?
Chuck: That's not what I meant. Most of the guys who've gone through the Changing remember terrible things they won't even talk about, which makes me doubt I have anything good back home. So, I mean, you think it's really possible I have a mum and a dad out in the world, missing me? Do you think
they cry at night?
Thomas: Listen to me, Chuck. I'm sure you have parents. I know it. Sounds terrible, but I bet your mum is sitting in your room right now, holding your pillow, looking out at the world that stole you from her. And yeah, I bet she's crying. Hard. Puffy-eyed, snotty-nosed crying. the real deal. Don't give up, Chuck. We're gonna solve this thing, get out of here. I'm a Runner now - I promise on my life that I'll get you back to that room of yours. Make your mum quit crying.
Chuck: Hope you're right.
Thomas: I swear, Chuck. I swear I'll get you back home.
"
— Thomas to Chuck, promising to take him home

The Maze Runner is a young-adult dystopian science-fiction novel and the first book in The Maze Runner Series, written by American author James Dashner. It preceded The Scorch Trials and followed the events of the prequel novel The Fever Code. It was published on 6th October, 2009.

Development

In late 2005 mid-June, James Dashner had published four books to complete The Jimmy Fincher Saga, which had been with a small regional publisher. His publisher wanted him to write another book, but he decided he would try for a national book market instead. In November of that year, he had an idea for a book “about a bunch of teenagers living inside an unsolvable Maze full of hideous creatures, in the future, in a dark, dystopian world. It would be an experiment, to study their minds. Terrible things would be done to them – awful things; completely hopeless – until the victims turn everything on its head." Dashner wrote the book from December 2005 to March 2006, with editorial help from Stacy Whitman and Krista Marino.

Synopsis

If you ain't scared, you ain't human.

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his name. He's surrounded by strangers–boys whose memories are also gone.

Nice to meet ya, shank. Welcome to the Glade.

Outside the towering stone walls that surround the Glade is a limitless, ever-changing maze. It's the only way out—and no one's ever made it through alive.

Everything is going to change.

Then a girl arrives. The first girl ever. And the message she delivers is terrifying.

Remember. Survive. Run.

Plot

Thomas wakes up in a metal lift, only remembering his name. A group of boys pull him out and tell him he is in the Glade, the part of the maze they live in. Thomas discovers that the Gladers have been trying to solve the Maze for two years. He also finds out that the Maze is inhabited by monsters called Grievers, which are half-animal, half-machine creatures that are extremely dangerous. However, they only come at night. He finds out that at night time, the walls of the Maze, called the Doors, close to protect the Gladers from the Grievers outside.

He makes a friend named Chuck, and an enemy, Gally. While Thomas has no memory of Gally, Gally has endured the Changing and claims that he knew Thomas and that Thomas is evil. The Changing is a side effect of the treatment with Grief Serum, when someone is stung by a Griever, one of the sinister creatures that inhabit the maze. The Changing causes almost unbearable pain, but also gives the Gladers back a piece of their memories. As a Greenie, Thomas has much to learn. In the first day, only a newer Glader named Chuck reaches out. Survival in the Glade requires following some harsh rules learned from necessity. Each day "Greenbean" Thomas will have to train with a different Keeper, (Keepers lead the different work divisions and are the highest members of the Glade).  Despite his lack of memory (and contrary to advice), Thomas feels a strange urge to become a Runner – one of the boys who explores the Maze. Thomas gets quite annoyed when he asks people about the Maze, and they refuse to tell him. Thomas eventually gets into a routine of behaving and stops asking questions as he finds out that nobody except from Chuck gives him a clue of what is happening.

The next day, a girl arrives in the Glade via the lift, which is unusual first for being off schedule and then because the Glade comprises only boys. Newt and Alby are shocked as never in the two years of being in the Maze have there been two newbies in one month causing Alby to think that this is all Thomas' fault. She says that " Everything is going to change" before going into a coma. There is also a note in her hand, which says that: " She's the last one. Ever." Thomas then sees Minho, the Keeper of the Runners, and Alby, the Leader of the Gladers, struggling to make it back out of the Maze before the Doors close for the night. Alby has been stung by a Griever and is barely conscious.  Thomas breaks the Glade's number one rule and steps out into the Maze, hoping to help Minho and Alby. However, all three get stuck outside the Glade, and thought they are going to die, because no one has survived a night in the Maze before. Minho panics and runs off. However, Thomas ties Alby up on the wall to protect him from the Grievers. He then diverts the Grievers away from Alby. Minho reappears and both of them trick the Grievers into jumping off the Cliff, thereby surviving the night in the Maze.

As questions turns into fear, the Gladers keep asking Thomas whether he knows the girl. He knows her face is familiar, but he can't exactly place where he has seen her face, but he decides to say nothing off this to the villagers. In awe of their survival, the Council of Keepers nonetheless agrees it must judge Thomas for all the trouble and rule breaking he has brought them and consider his punishment. Gally must leave the Council meeting after actively threatening to kill Thomas. The remaining Council decides Thomas can stay and that, after one day in the Slammer, the Glader's jail, he should become a Runner and Minho will train him. Minho teaches Thomas what the Runners do in the Maze, especially map-making. He tells Thomas that all the Runners make maps for the section they are assigned to. They then study the Maps and try to figure something out. Thomas also discovers that he can talk to the girl telepathically and finds out that her name is Teresa. She wakes up one day and says that she triggered the Ending. The very same day, the skies turn grey and the Doors stop closing, thereby condemning the Gladers to the mercy of the Grievers. Gally shows up that night when the Grievers attack and says that the Grievers will only kill one person a night, then jumps on a Griever and is carried away. Thomas, Teresa, Minho and Newt then figure out that the Maze spells a code and find out what the code is using the Maps of the different sections.

Thomas gets stung by a Griever on purpose, and goes through the Changing. He gets back some of his memories, and tells the Gladers what he learned. He tells them that the only way out of the Maze is through the Griever Hole, over the Cliff where the Grievers live. Then, most of the Gladers decide to follow through with the plan, and they prepare to go into the Maze that night. They then fight the Grievers at the Cliff, so that Thomas, Teresa, and Chuck can get into the Griever Hole and punch in the code. Half of the Gladers die fighting the Grievers, but after Teresa enters the Code that stops the Grievers, the remaining 21 manage to escape through the Griever Hole and open the door out of the Maze. The surviving Gladers find themselves in a chamber and meet the Creators, the people who sent them to the Maze. A woman comes out and tells them that they passed the Maze Trials, however that there is one Variable left. Suddenly, Gally appears and throws a knife at Thomas. Chuck dives in front of Thomas, sacrificing himself to save Thomas. Thomas breaks down and cries, because he had promised Chuck that he would take him home, and then knocks out Gally in a fit of rage. A group of people, the Rescuers, burst into the chamber, kill the scientists surveying the Gladers, and tell the Gladers to run with them into the real world. As they all rush onto a bus with the Rescuers, a sore-riddled woman attacks Thomas; the driver runs over the woman with the bus.

One of the Rescuers then explains to Thomas and Teresa why they were put into the Maze. She says that when Sun Flares slammed into the Earth, countless miles became wastelands and millions of people died instantly. Then came a sickness called the Flare. She explains that the physical effects of the Flare, such as sores, are caused by something else, but the Flare lives in their brains, and causes them to slowly go crazy, finally consuming them and causing them to lose their humanity. Everything the Gladers went through was a test, planned out and their reactions recorded, all in an attempt at finding youth capable of helping to beat the Flare. The Gladers are housed in a building where they think they are finally safe.

Characters

  • Thomas: a teenage boy who was a Runner in the Glade. He discovers he had some part in building WICKED and the Maze. He can speak telepathically with Aris and Teresa.
  • Newt: the leader of the Gladers after the former leader dies in the first novel. He has a slight limp and is Thomas and Minho's best friend.
  • Minho: the head Runner in the Glade. He is snarky and is a smart-aleck, which gets him in trouble frequently. He is best friends with Newt and Thomas.
  • Teresa Agnes: Thomas' best friend before the Glade; she can speak telepathically with Thomas.
  • Alby: is the leader of the Gladers. Alby was named after Albert Einstein, the German theoretical physicist.
  • Chuck: was a Slopper who befriended Thomas in the Maze. He was basically Thomas' best friend and the little brother he never had.
  • Gally: is the Keeper of the Builders. He was Thomas' first enemy in the Glade. He serves as the main antagonist and bully of the first book.
  • Ben: A semi-minor character who went through the Changing, and was later banished into the Maze for attempting to kill Thomas.
  • Frypan: The Cook for the Gladers in Group A.
  • Winston: Keeper of the Slicers in the Glade.
  • Jeff: was one of the two Med-jacks in the Glade, the other being Clint.
  • Clint: He was one of the two Med-jacks in the Glade, the other being Jeff.
  • Zart: was the Keeper of the Track-hoes/Gardeners and was one of the first Keepers that Thomas worked with.
  • Adam: A Glader who was taken by the Grievers during the days the doors weren't closing. Adam had a very minor role.
  • Dave: A Slicer who was taken by the Grievers during the days the doors weren't closing. Dave was a very minor character and had little importance to the story.
  • Billy: Keeper of the Baggers. Billy was a minor character.
  • Hank: A Runner whose name was on the replica of the maze in section 8.
  • Jackson: A Bagger. Jackson was a minor character.
  • Grievers: Biomechanical creatures that hunt and kill the Gladers in the maze. They are described as "large, bulbous creature[s] the size of a cow but with no distinct shape". During "The Ending", they were let into the Glade to kill one person every day until the Gladers escaped or they all died.

Covers

Reception

The Maze Runner was critically acclaimed upon release. Kirkus Reviews wrote: "Hard to put down, this is clearly just a first installment, and it will leave readers dying to find out what comes next." Jessica Harrison of the Deseret Morning News labeled The Maze Runner as "a thrilling adventurous book for kids ages 13+ that will get readers' hearts pumping and leave them asking for more." While she noted that it "starts out a bit slow," she says the pace ultimately matches Thomas' confusion, writing that "it's almost as if Dashner is easing the reader into what becomes a fast-paced, nonstop action." However, she thought a "drawback" was the "fictionalized slang," saying, "While it feels realistic and fits with his characters, it gets old pretty fast. On the plus side, however, it's used so often that the reader almost becomes desensitized and learns to ignore it."

The novel received awards for its excellence in the young adult literature category. It won the 2011 Best Fiction for Young Adults Award presented by the Young Adult Library Services Association. It won the Charlotte Award in 2012, an award named after Charlotte in E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web, that is given to outstanding literature that encourages children to become life-long readers as voted on by students in New York State. It also won the Lincoln Award in 2012, sponsored by the Illinois School Library Educators, and for its notable encouragement of high school readers to read for personal enjoyment. Similarly, The Maze Runner won the Truman Readers Award in 2012 which encourages young readers between the sixth and eighth grades to express their voices through literary genres, collaborate with peers over young adult literature, and celebrates authors writing for young adults. The book received other awards as well, including the Evergreen Teen Book Award in 2012 and Georgia Peach Book Award in 2009. It was also nominated for Utah Book Award for Young Adults in 2009 and Pennsylvania Young Readers’ Choice Award in 2011, to name a few.

The Maze Runner is also a popular educational tool in schools. Dr. Christy Goldsmith from the University of Missouri notes that she used The Maze Runner in her secondary classroom to teach independent reading, how to interact with fiction, and that “reading doesn’t have to be painful.” In the Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literary Review, Dr. Sara Abrams from Arizona State University recommends The Maze Runner to middle school students, saying “readers who seek adventure and are curious about living on their own will find The Maze Runner an engaging read” and compares it to Lord of the Flies, saying it is easier to read but just as entertaining. Sandra Bennet says the book is “an absorbing and tense novel which mid to older teens will devour” in The School Librarian.

Awards & Nominations

Won

  • Georgia Peach Book Award (The Maze Runner; 2009)
  • 2011 Best Fiction for Young Adults Award (The Maze Runner; 2011; Young Adult Library Services Association)
  • Charlotte Award (The Maze Runner; 2012; Outstanding Literature)
  • Lincoln Awards (The Maze Runner; 2012)
  • Truman Readers Award (The Maze Runner; 2012)
  • Evergreen Teen Book Award (The Maze Runner; 2012)

Nominations

  • Utah Book Award for Young Adults (The Maze Runner; 2009)
  • Pennsylvania Young Readers' Choice Award (The Maze Runner; 2011)

Trailer

The_Maze_Runner_by_James_Dashner

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Official trailer for the Books release.

Trivia

  • The Maze Runner takes place in the year 232. It is unknown what event they are 232 years from, but is theorized to be the year 2032.
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